Internal Improvement

National Public Works and the Promise of Popular Government in the Early United States

By: John Lauritz Larson

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Paperback | 26 March 2001

At a Glance

Paperback
352 Pages

Edition Type
New edition

Dimensions(cm)
22.86 x 14.61 x 1.91

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When the people of British North America threw off their colonial bonds, they sought more than freedom from bad government: most of the founding generation also desired the freedom to create and enjoy good, popular, responsive government. This book traces the central issue on which early Americans pinned their hopes for positive government action--internal improvement.

The nation's early republican governments undertook a wide range of internal improvement projects meant to assure Americans' security, prosperity, and enlightenment--from the building of roads, canals, and bridges to the establishment of universities and libraries. But competitive struggles eventually undermined the interstate and interregional cooperation required, and the public soured on the internal improvement movement. Jacksonian politicians seized this opportunity to promote a more libertarian political philosophy in place of activist, positive republicanism. By the 1850s, the United States had turned toward a laissez-faire system of policy that, ironically, guaranteed more freedom for capitalists and entrepreneurs than ever envisioned in the founders' revolutionary republicanism.

Industry Reviews

An original reexamination of a major issue in nineteenth-century American history, based on primary sources and written with lucidity and verve. (Daniel Walker Howe, Oxford University) Larson has produced a well-researched history of national public works initiatives from 1788 to 1850. ("Choice") "Internal Improvement" is the single most important contribution to our understanding of antebellum American political economy in the last generation. (Peter S. Onuf, University of Virginia) Larson's long-awaited study of the crusade for internal improvement in the early American republic makes a major contribution to our understanding of the values that shaped the founders' bold experiment in republican governance. (Richard R. John, University of Illinois at Chicago)

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Non-Fiction Economics Political Economy Economic History History Regional & National History History of the Americas Earliest Times to Present Day Modern History from 1700 to 1900 Industry & Industrial Studies Industrial Relations, Health & Safety Industrial Relations

Politics & Government Public Administration Central Government

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Acknowledgments
Introduction An Experiment in Republicanism	p. 1
Designs of the Monied Gentry	p. 9
Toward a National Republican Alternative	p. 39
The Problems with State Initiatives	p. 71
The """"Progress"""" of Consolidation	p. 109
Spoiling Internal Improvements	p. 149
State Initiatives Again	p. 195
Into the Railway Age	p. 225
Epilogue: Designs of a New Monied Gentry	p. 257
Notes	p. 265
Bibliography	p. 295
Index	p. 319
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Internal Improvement

National Public Works and the Promise of Popular Government in the Early United States

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

Other Editions and Formats

ePUB

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